index.php is showing up blank

Hi, I've read a few other posts about this but haven't found any conclusive answers.

When I added the site I could see it's standard index.html page no problem. I then upload all of my Joomla stuff and then when I go back and browse to the site it''s just blank, a white screen. I've checked that index.php is in the directoryindex, I've navigated directly to www.mysite.com/index.php and even www.mysite.com/installation/index.php - all blank.

This is the second site I've installed in two days with exactly the same Joomla files - the first site set up fine and still works 100%. (so I'm sure the php files are getting parsed - or is this on a per site basis...?)

The first site (the one that works) is at test.mysite.com, this new one is at www.mysite.com - that's the only difference to the way they were set up that I can see. Both sites are enabled for php...

(I've even deleted the site and re-"set it up" again - same issues...)

Beside that, so see the error displayed on the page (you have to decide your own if that makes sense on a prod. server), you can change the logging behaviour in the php.ini whether to log to a file or to screen.

Next thing is, same problem I had, that the pear directory is in none of the open_basedirs of a user when using ISPConfig. For this I opened a bug / FR, to include this directory... but it is not that easy to make it compatible with all platforms, due to the fact that the pear directory differs from distro to distro (e.g. debian: /usr/share/php, rhel/centos: /usr/share/pear).
If you wish I can tell you how to change which line in which file....

One other thing - the first Joomla site was having a bit of trouble with parsing the php files. I looked up some answers here and played around with the config.inc.php file a bit (nothing seemed to work at first so I left it on "addhandler" - what it says to use for OpenSUSE - and a day later it was all ticking along merrily).

(And I guess this line is missing for the messages from Thu Sep 27 11:06:28 2007).

This message means that the setting for open_basedir for that user is not granting access to this file. If it would be an owner problem resulting of safe_modes gid check, then the errormessage would be different.

Thanks again for helping. If the line is missing from what I posted then it wasn't logged, I copy-pasted the whole lot so one line missing in the middle is pretty unlikely.

And with regard to your message, how should I fix the ownership problem?

I really don't mean to be rude or ask to be "spoon-fed" a solution, but it seems like you guys know what the problem is.Could I get slightly more specific pointers or instructions? that would really help.

Thanks in advance.

-Alex

ps Are a few of you guys German? I'm actually taking classes at the moment : )

Ben, I checked, and safe_mode_gid was off. I looked back at Falkos post and saw that, in fact, safe mode was turned on in ISPConfig. I've turned it off and at first glance everything seems to be working!

That change (safe_mode off in ISPConfig) did something a little strange actually. I was having trouble with www.mysite.com but had gotten test.mysite.com working fine. When I made the above change I recieved the Joomla message telling me to remove the installation directory for security purposes (the standard Joomla message after an installation - only, I hadn't installed on www.mysite.com yet...). I decided that maybe elves had done it and so deleted the installation directory anyway and then was shown the test.mysite.com page?? www.mysite.com was displaying test.mysite.com's page...

I tried deleting test.mysite.com but now I'm back to seeing nothing again?! A blank page...

Ben, I've done both things you mentioned above here, and Falko I tried yours too (which I thought had worked for a second).

Any ideas? Should I just reinstall from scratch using another distro? Is there one distro you guys would reccommend (then we're all on the same page from step 1)?

Thanks, that was it. I can now enter the installation. I'm running into some other mySQL issues now. Do you know anything about the username and password not being recognized in a Joomla setup? - I know I'm using the correct info but it won't get accepted... - if you don't know don't worry, I know this probably isn't an ISPConfig thing.

As well as mySQL not accepting what, for all apparent purposes, is the correct username, db name, and pasword, I'm basically stalled because "the system is currently updating the configuration files" (it's been doing this all day now, except for a few brief periods*).

Seeing as though I don't have anything important hosted here (yet!), I'm going to completely reinstall, follow the perfect setup, and hope for the best.

So, my last question is: Which distro? Is one any better than another? I'm currently using OpenSuse so I already have the discs, but I'll download something else if it has proved more stable.

Thanks,

Alex

*In fact, it's everytime I try and empty my recycle bin it freezes up and shows that message. Then, when it finally comes back, nothing has been emptied.

Another thing, my ISPConfig page is showing up as (*)ISPConfig in the Firefox title bar - I can't remember if that's how it usually is but I don't think so..